Why Your Business Needs YouTube Shorts (And How to Get Started)
YouTube Shorts isn’t just another fleeting social media trend—it’s a powerful way for businesses to connect with audiences in a fast-paced, attention-driven digital landscape. With more than 2 billion logged-in monthly users on YouTube, Shorts offers an effective entry point for brands to engage new and existing viewers in under 60 seconds.
Here’s why your business should embrace YouTube Shorts, how they can significantly benefit your brand, and practical tips on getting started today.
Why YouTube Shorts?
1. Boost Your Visibility
YouTube Shorts leverage the platform’s powerful recommendation algorithm, giving you access to an audience far beyond your subscriber count. Shorts are prominently featured within the YouTube Shorts feed, which drastically increases your video’s discoverability compared to traditional long-form videos alone.
2. Capture Short Attention Spans
The reality of today’s online viewer is that attention spans are shorter than ever. Shorts address this perfectly by providing viewers with concise, impactful, and digestible content that immediately resonates, helping you quickly capture interest without overwhelming your audience.
3. Gateway to Your Main Content
Think of Shorts as mini trailers or teasers. They introduce viewers to your brand and gently encourage them to explore your longer videos, subscribe, or even visit your website. It’s not always about making a direct sale or immediate conversion; rather, it’s about cultivating a relationship and interest that leads viewers deeper into your content ecosystem.
How Your Business Benefits from Shorts
1. Increased Audience Reach
Shorts help you tap into YouTube’s expansive user base. Viewers who might never click on a full-length video due to time constraints or initial unfamiliarity with your brand can effortlessly watch and engage with a Short. This broadens your overall reach significantly.
2. Improved Engagement Metrics
YouTube Shorts naturally encourage high engagement—likes, comments, shares—which signals to the algorithm that your content is valuable. This increased interaction often translates into greater visibility for your longer content, enhancing your overall channel performance.
3. Cost-effective Content Production
Creating Shorts doesn’t require high-end equipment or extensive editing. Authentic, relatable content recorded on your smartphone can often outperform professionally produced videos, particularly because viewers crave genuine and spontaneous interactions.
Setting Expectations: Understanding the Role of Shorts
Shorts primarily sit at the top of your content funnel. They’re designed to grab attention and generate initial interest, rather than directly triggering immediate actions such as purchases or sign-ups. Think of Shorts as the introduction and handshake—short, memorable, and intriguing enough to encourage the viewer to want to learn more.
While some Shorts may lead viewers directly to your longer videos or website, the primary success metric for Shorts should be focused around awareness, brand recall, subscriber growth, and increased interaction rates.
How to Get Started with YouTube Shorts
Getting started with Shorts is straightforward:
- Identify Quick-win Content: Look at your existing content library—blogs, webinars, testimonials, or FAQs—and turn these into short, punchy videos.
- Shoot Vertically and Concisely: Shorts must be vertical (portrait format) and ideally 15 to 60 seconds. Keep it brief, engaging, and immediately useful or entertaining.
- Use Captions and Music: The Shorts editing tools on the YouTube app allow you to add captions, text overlays, and music easily, making your Shorts more engaging and accessible.
- Consistency is Key: Regularly upload Shorts to maintain momentum. Posting at least a few times a week is ideal for steady growth.
For a list of tools to help you get started generating shorts content and edit them as needed, check out Best AI Content Repurposing Tool For Video And Audio: Our 8 Favorites (2024)
Measuring Your Success: Key Analytics
YouTube Shorts analytics help you understand what’s resonating and what’s not. Pay close attention to these metrics:
- Views and Watch Time: This tells you how engaging your Shorts are. High watch times (completion rates) indicate compelling content.
- Audience Retention: Identify exactly where viewers drop off. The longer they stay, the better your Shorts perform.
- Engagement Metrics: Likes, comments, and shares measure how your Shorts resonate emotionally or practically with viewers.
- Subscriber Growth: Check if your Shorts attract new subscribers who then explore your longer-form content.
Note that these metrics are different than what we’ve focused on traditionally for long form content. Specifically for shorts, we are not necessarily focusing on direct conversions (i.e. conversions including paid or free trial sign-ups, webinar sign-offs, calls scheduled), these more direct business impact will happen later.
Final Thoughts
YouTube Shorts represent a strategic way to introduce your brand to a broader audience and funnel viewers deeper into your content and services. They aren’t a replacement for long-form content but rather a complementary tool that enhances your overall YouTube presence and engagement.
Embrace Shorts not just as quick entertainment, but as strategic mini-marketing opportunities that amplify your business’s reach, engagement, and potential for growth.